


taste the fruit of me

by jonginous



Series: Elicit [3]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, M/M, farm boy jongin, thief kyungsoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21661639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonginous/pseuds/jonginous
Summary: Kyungsoo is the prince of thieves and Jongin is the prince of vendors selling fruit. Set in Joseon dynasty.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai
Series: Elicit [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561609
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28





	taste the fruit of me

**Author's Note:**

> cross posting! original post date: October 24, 2016
> 
> Part of Elicit: a collection of drabbles and short one-shots.

Kyungsoo was seven when he first had to steal food to survive for the day. A drop of sweat rolls down the side of his face from a mix between the sweltering heat and his nerves. His mother nudges him closer to the marketplace, unable to steal food herself after years of tricking the vendors and earning suspicious glares every time she walks near.

Kyungsoo turns back to his mother, eyes wide and fear written across his face. His mother nudges him again with an encouraging smile on her face, motioning with her head towards the marketplace vendors.

“Mom, I can’t do it. What if I get caught?” Kyungsoo stands at the edge of the entrance of the marketplace, pondering over if it’s really worth getting caught and having his hand chopped off for stealing. The vendors took pity on his mother countless times, allowing her to keep her hand. Would they take pity on Kyungsoo because he’s merely the tender age of seven? Kyungsoo isn’t sure he wants to risk it.

“If you don’t get us at least something, we’re both going to starve until we’re able to try again tomorrow,” his mother looks down dejectedly, feeling guilty for bringing her son into this situation.

Kyungsoo juts out his bottom lip, eyeing the vendors animatedly trying to sell their products to the bustling crowd of shoppers. Kyungsoo silently nods and takes shaky steps towards the entrance of the marketplace. He keeps his head down as he maneuvers through the crowd, taking quick glances at the vendors through his peripheral vision and sizing them up to see which one would be the easiest to steal from.

Kyungsoo spots a booth with people circling the front from all directions, looking at the products. He decides he will easily be able to slip between the crowd of people around the booth, grab whatever he can get his hands on, and silently slip away. Surely, the vendor wouldn’t notice. The plan is perfect in his seven year old mind.

Kyungsoo moves closer to the booth, parting the way by lightly shoving away the legs of the much taller adults, trying to greedily bargain the best deals with the vendor. Kyungsoo thinks that this is even more perfect, because the customers are constantly shouting things at the vendor as he scurries to get everything packed up in a small bag as well as take the customer’s money.

Kyungsoo reaches the front, sand scraping against his toughened bare feet, never being able to afford shoes since feeding themselves has almost been the most important. Eyes wide and frightened, he stares up at the vendor, making sure he’s distracted. Money is being shoved in the vendor’s face as bags are exchanged and he tries to not let the wind blow the money away that’s being carelessly placed on the counter. The vendor has more than enough distractions, Kyungsoo thinks.

He gets his ripped and worn bag ready at his side, wanting to quickly shove as much fruit in his bag as he can and get out of the vicinity before someone notices what he’s doing. Kyungsoo checks that no one is watching him one more time before he starts to discreetly shove the nearest fruits into his bag. He manages to get some apples, bunches of bananas, and some dragon fruit.

Kyungsoo is so focused on the man running the booth that he doesn’t notice a boy around his age, sitting behind the vendor, staring at him. Kyungsoo stops shoving fruit into his bag, eyes wide as he stares back at the little boy. He expects the little boy to look angry and ready to tell his dad what he saw, but none of that happens. The sun-kissed boy gets up, standing a little shorter than Kyungsoo’s height, and walks over to where the latter is. Kyungsoo gulps, hands shaking as he puts the dragon fruit that he was holding back down into the box on the booth’s counter.

The shorter boy tilts his head curiously, eyes shining in innocence, and then a smile spreads across his face. Kyungsoo is taken aback. He just got caught stealing from probably his dad’s or relative’s booth and the boy is smiling at him. What the boy does next shocks him even more.

The beautifully tanned boy reaches over to where Kyungsoo put the dragon fruit back, picks it up, and hands it over to Kyungsoo. The latter’s eyebrows knit together in confusion, eyeing the fruit in the boy’s hand like it’s poison; like it’s a trap. The boy urges him to take the fruit, side eyeing the man standing on the other side of the booth, silently letting Kyungsoo know that he better take the fruit before both of them get caught.

Kyungsoo quickly takes it and takes backward steps, becoming lost in the sea of people swarming the booth. Kyungsoo holds his bag close to him as he maneuvers back to where his mother is waiting for him, feeling like every person that looks at him knows what he just did. His mother praises him for successfully stealing his first batch of food. He should feel relief that he got it over with and managed to get food for the rest of the day but all he can think about is the sun-kissed boy’s kind smile and generous act.

Sixteen years later and Kyungsoo is now 23, master of stealing, earning him the title of the prince of thieves. Most people manage to get caught at least once within their first few years of stealing, and then more later on. For Kyungsoo, he has never gotten caught, stealing things smoothly like he was born to do it. Groups of thieves try to recruit him for bigger heists, where they steal money and jewels from affluent households. They know that with Kyungsoo, everything will run smoothly. Of course, Kyungsoo agrees as long as he manages to get at least 70% of what is stolen. Thieves reluctantly agree, realizing they can’t pull off heists this big without Kyungsoo’s help.

Despite his expertise in stealing just about anything his heart desires, he still goes back to that same fruit vendor booth he stole from when he was a child, most of the time not even bothering to be discreet. The beautiful tanned boy has fully taken over the booth, the older man that ran it, choosing to stay behind at their farm. The tanned boy always looks over when Kyungsoo comes, eyes traveling down to the various fruits Kyungsoo openly takes. He never says anything though, never has a disgusted or angry look on his face. Instead, he always gives him that same sweet smile and has that kind look in his eyes.

Kyungsoo wonders if this boy just “looks the other way” when everybody steals from his booth. He then worries that too many people are probably taking advantage of the kind boy and making his farm go bankrupt. He also worries because he shouldn’t care. His life work is thievery. He should congratulate people that steal from naive people like that boy from fruit vendor booth.

For the first time in his life, Kyungsoo makes a mistake. It was a simple mistake, but a costly one. One that could cost him his life. The rest of the group of thieves that recruited him, left him to fend for himself as he runs off the grounds of one of the wealthiest families in the city, security guards not too far behind him. He’s skirting along the walls of the buildings, blocks away from the mansion. The night is cold, too cold almost. As Kyungsoo runs, the frigid air feels like it’s slicing through the tender skin on his cheeks. He winces, not even paying attention to where he is going.

The young thief collides with something hard, knocking the breath out of him. He lands on the ground, pain in his chest from having the breath knocked out of him and bottom hurting from it catching his fall. His vision is slightly blurry from the suddenness of the situation so he brings his fingers up to rapidly rub at his eyes to make everything clear.

What Kyungsoo sees before him surprises him. He’s not used to running into the beautiful sun-kissed boy outside of the vicinity of the vendor booth he works at. The boy is rubbing his hip, seeming to have landed on it. The boy looks up to meet Kyungsoo’s gaze, recognition flashing in his eyes.

“Oh...it’s you! Thief boy,” the tanned boy laughs nervously, trying to flash a smile to let Kyungsoo know he’s joking and not taking on an accusing tone.

Kyungsoo squints at him, used to always being on guard and not quite catching onto the other boy’s joking tone. “You. Fruit boy. What are you doing here so late?”

The tanned boy raises his eyebrow at Kyungsoo calling him fruit boy. He jumps to his feet and holds out a hand for Kyungsoo to take, who is still on the ground. “I forgot something back at the booth after I walked back to my farm. I’m too much of a forgetful person for my father to trust me with the booth,” he awkwardly laughs. “I’m Jongin by the way.”

Kyungsoo takes his hand and lets Jongin pull him up to his feet. “Kyungsoo,” his response is terse. He suddenly remembers he was being chased and is probably currently being hunted down.

“Shit,” Kyungsoo curses under his breath. He abruptly reaches out to roughly grasp Jongin’s hand and says, “Quick! Do you have somewhere I can hide? I can’t explain right now, we just need to get moving!”

Jongin is taken aback but gets the message when he sees the frantic look in Kyungsoo’s eyes. “Um sure, we can go to my farm,” Jongin pulls Kyungsoo along, jogging as he goes back to his farm, not far away.

They make it to the outskirts of his farm, Jongin tells him that it will be easier for them to climb the nearest tree and hide up there since the house is still a long ways and since it seems urgent, they shouldn’t stay out in the open for long.

“Come on, I can boost you up,” Jongin interlocks his own hands together, palms up so he can boost Kyungsoo up. He waits but there’s never a foot stepping in between his hands. Instead, he looks up to see Kyungsoo already halfway up the tree, climbing it with ease.

Jongin chuckles and climbs up after him. They lodge themselves onto a thick branch high up in the tree, just in time for them to hear shouts saying they thought they saw the thief run this way. Jongin nestles himself closer to Kyungsoo, legs on each side of the branch and facing Kyungsoo who also has his legs on each side. Jongin attempts to make themselves look as small as possible by scooting closer to the thief in case the men chasing them happen to look up.

Kyungsoo can feel Jongin’s hot breath ghost across the tip of his head and can feel his body heat emanating from him, oddly feeling comforting in the night’s chill air. Kyungsoo wants to snuggle up closer to the heat and have it engulf him. There’s something so serene and reassuring about being this close to Jongin. Maybe it’s because he’s always let him have free food that his brain is telling him to bring himself closer. Maybe his brain thinks he’s going to get more free food if he does. But that doesn’t explain the way his heart is reacting.

Jongin is looking off into the distance, then slowly turns back to Kyungsoo. “I think they’re gone but we should stay up here longer in case they decide to lurk around or double back.”

Kyungsoo hums in acknowledgement, secretly grateful that he gets to be up here longer with the beautiful and kind tanned boy named Jongin.

“So I can probably guess why they’re after you,” Jongin casually says. “You have yourself quite a reputation. Not like I’m judging you or anything! It’s just word spreads and I know how hard it is to survive not like I’m justifying your lifestyle I mean I’m sure you’re a good person,” Jongin keeps mindlessly rambling, looking nervous as if he’s afraid Kyungsoo will be angry with him for what he’s saying.

“Jongin it’s alright, I’m aware of the reputation I’ve built for myself. I’m not offended when people bring it up.” Kyungsoo reaches to grab at Jongin’s hip, rubbing comforting small circles on it with his thumb. Jongin doesn’t seem to mind.

Jongin meets his steady gaze and smiles gently. “I remember you from when we were little kids. You looked so scared the first time you arrived at my family’s booth. I always felt the need to make sure you were fed,” Jongin pauses to chuckle. “Even though my father always questioned me about missing inventory. I felt bad at first because fruit by itself doesn’t give you all the proper nutrients for a meal, but I heard from nearby vendors that they were always missing meats and breads.”

“That was probably a mixture of other thieves and I around the area,” Kyungsoo answers while he rubs at the nape of his neck with his free hand. A part of him feels naked, like Jongin is seeing all his flaws and pointing them out in front of him. Strangely, the other boy’s tone isn’t condescending or scolding like he expects from everyone; it holds that same warmth and kindness that this boy always seems to have.

Jongin takes Kyungsoo’s hand that’s rubbing his nape into both of his, cradling it like this one body part is absolutely precious to him. “Despite all the things people say about you, it never stopped me from seeing how beautiful you are from the first moment I saw you. You were forced into this life to survive, and now it’s all you know. Come stay with my family and I at our farm, we can feed you and find work for you to do around the grounds. You don’t have to be in danger all the time anymore.”

Kyungsoo stares at him, shell-shocked, and wonders how can Jongin possibly see beauty in him when all his life, he’s done ugly things? And how can this boy be even more kind by offering his home to him? “I can’t Jongin.” Kyungsoo’s heart breaks watching Jongin deflate and look rejected.

Kyungsoo brings his other hand up to squeeze at Jongin’s hands around his and continues, “I pissed off a very wealthy family. Even if they don’t find me tonight, they will most likely keep looking for me. I have to get as far away from here as I can.”

“I’ll go with you,” Jongin desperately says. Kyungsoo would have fallen off the tree in surprise if the tanned boy wasn’t still holding onto him. “I can’t lose you Kyungsoo. I can’t look up everyday and not see you standing outside of my booth taking my fruit.”

Kyungsoo wholeheartedly laughs at this. Not once in his life has he even heard someone so eager to have things stolen from them. “I have to survive by thievery. You’ll be leaving your family and your farm behind-”

“I’m fine with all of that, Kyungsoo. I just can’t lose you,” Jongin whispers, afraid that if he speaks even a decibel louder, too many emotions will seep through.

Kyungsoo looks off and sees the vast land of this boy’s farm. “I can’t offer you much. I can only offer you my world.” And my heart.

While Kyungsoo is distracted, Jongin leans in and plants a soft, gentle kiss on Kyungsoo’s lips. The fullness of their lips melting into each other and making their doubts disappear. The kiss is short and chaste, but full of meaning. Jongin pulls away and rests his forehead against Kyungsoo’s, both of their eyes wide and energetic.

“I’ll take it.”

**Author's Note:**

> you can follow me on twitter @dyoskai :)


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